Pit Pass: Drivers recall Earnhardt's passion for Brickyard

10:26 PM,
Jul. 28, 2012

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Eighteen years after the first Brickyard 400, the late Dale Earnhardt's passion for Indianapolis Motor Speedway remains a strong memory for NASCAR's drivers who were closest to him.

"When they first came here to test (stock cars in 1992), he had to be the first guy out on the racetrack," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said Saturday. "The same thing about sitting on the pole for the first race (Rick Mast earned it) and winning the first race (in '94).

"When he didn't win the first race, I think that disappointed him. He expected to come here and win the first race at this track." ...